From Junk to WOW! Using Alcohol Inks on Recycled Glass Jars

I can’t stop staring at these photos. I just can’t believe what a little bit of alcohol ink transformed old glass jars into. I know you have a ton of old spaghetti jars and other recycled glass on the top shelf of your kitchen cabinets. Maybe it’s time to pull them down and make something. This is a DIY Project using recycled glass that you are going to want to make.

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I had been dying to play with alcohol inks for the longest time but they’re not the cheapest craft supply. I even looked up recipes for making my own alcohol inks but had never taken that step. Each trip (out of oh-so-many) to the craft store I would look at them and think about what I could make. A few times I even picked them up and carried them around for a bit before putting them back.

Just to let you know, 3 colors is $11.99 at Michaels. The same brand is just a little over $10 on Amazon.

However awhile back I was on my 13th trip around Michaels, which is about normal, when I saw that alcohol inks were buy one, get one free. Hello! Get in my basket!

I was soo happy!

Of course I quickly ran home and googled how to use alcohol inks and got 500 different answers.

I don’t have step-by-step photos for you because I was just playing around and trying to find out what works but I will tell you what I did learn.

To start I dug several clean jars out of my kitchen cabinet. One of the was an old mason jar that some product came in, two were small glass tubs from Yoplait Oui yogurt – which is yummy – and then I just grabbed one glass drinking cup that I had picked up awhile back from the Dollar Tree.

Once you start using the alcohol inks, you have to move fast because they dry very fast. I gathered everything I though I might possibly need.

I covered my work space with wax paper because once it’s on a surface, it’s there for a very long time. (If you get it on your table or counters put dishsoap on it and leave it for at least an hour before wiping it up.)

After my work space was ready I got a small dish of rubbing alcohol, some q-tips and a straw.

The rubbing alcohol acts as a surface agent that will help the alcohol ink spread on the glass. I spent time experimenting with different ways and techniques I found online for working with the rubbing alcohol. Some said to use a lot of it but I found that this left the alcohol inks looking very milky and muddled.

The technique that I found to work the best is to rub a small amount of rubbing alcohol into the spots where you want the ink to go using a q-tip.

For example, on the Yoplait Oui jar on the right, I just circled the jar with two lines of rubbing alcohol and then laying the jar on it’s side, dripped on the alcohol ink on top of the rubbing alcohol and turned the jar to get the ink to follow the line of rubbing alcohol.

See that oui yogurt jar on the left? That one was made by rubbing the entire surface lightly with alcohol ink.

Next I dripped a small amount of alcohol ink in one spot and then using a straw, quickly blew a blast of air over that spot – causing the ink to do an explode effect. (Press play on the Instagram post above to see it in action – and then do me a favor and follow me on Instagram)

This one with the drip style is my favorite. It’s just so pretty and it was the easiest to make. Anyone could make this.

All I did was rub it gently with rubbing alcohol and then turn it upside down. Then I put drops of colors all around the upturned base of the glass and let it run down the sides.

Make sure you have something such as wax paper under the cup to catch the drips. If it’s not messy, is it even worth it?

The best news about working with alcohol inks on glass is that if you don’t like the results, you can wipe them away with rubbing alcohol. Play around to get the effects you want and then let them sit for awhile to fully dry.

Unfortunately alcohol inks are not safe for drinking products. So use them on the stems of a wine glass or other areas where drinks or food you’re going to ingest won’t come in contact with them. Or do what I did and just create beautiful vases with them.

I am so in love with these! Who knew what some would regard as junk and throw away could look so great with an added splash of color?

Will you try this? If you love it don’t forget to Pin the image above so you don’t forget about it or share it on Facebook with your friends!

This reminds me of my really old DIY Painted vases post – which might be old but I still have those vases in my living room!

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